Sing the Changes
by Manic In Peace
Summary: Ginny Potter is on top of her game: Holyhead Harpies Captain, married to Harry Potter, and a generally happy person. Will some news disrupt all that?
1. Celebrate Your Youth

Ginny Potter did not _usually_ have a problem with Gwenog Jones. Gwen's raucous pep-talks did not _usually_ cause her to want to gnaw her own head off. Then again, she did not _usually_ have metaphorical midgets hosting a rave inside her cranium.

"This has got to be the **biggest **match of the season. You **know** how we did it during practice, so I'm **not gonna** ramble on, but this is one of my last as your Captain and beater," the room full of twentysomething jock-girls cooed their regrets "Yeah, I know, I'll miss you guys too. But _that _is why we have to DAMN WELL make this BEST MATCH EVER!" Ginny winced as the team roared in approval and rushed out on to the pitch.

_Buck up, Gin, _she told herself, _it's Gwen's last game, win it for her. Go out there, and peat the stupid Tutshill Tornadoes into a bazzing sarcocarp!_

_---_

The match was close, but the Harpies won by a hair, to the strident approval of the crowd and the team.

Ginny fell behind the bellowing group that was eager to give Gwen a 'proper' send-off/victory party, involving litres and litres of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey and a little over a baker's dozen partially clothed men.

Honestly, the last thing she was in the mood for.

She managed to manoeuvre Gwenog away from the cheering team

"Gwen. Gwenog. It's been awesome working with you, and I'd love to accompany the team to get completely smashed around a bunch of shirtless men-"

"Pantsless."

She shook her head of this awkward revelation and continued "Yes. Well. Digressions aside, you've been a great mentor and captain for these past couple of years, and a better beater for longer, and I just wanted to thank you before I flew the coop."

Gwen smiled at Ginny "So, I take it you are either being a complete arse-lick, a party pooper, or are not feeling well,"

"Considering the fact that I'd like to yak my brains out of my ears," Ginny grinned dryly "I'd say it was the last one. Or it could be a result of licking _your_ arse."

The girls laughed. Ginny was glad her now-ex-captain would not hold her absence against her. Though, she did give her odd, knowing looks the whole duration of their conversation.

But, then again, Gwen did, often, have that kind of look about her.


	2. Decapitate

A loud, grating noise was issuing from the living room of the Burrow. Ginny thought for a moment that Molly might have been brutally murdering Pigwidgeon, but then immediately ruled it out, because Pigwidgeon had never made a noise so low. Perhaps another owl, then.

She knocked tentatively on the door (which she later thought to be particularly stupid. No-one could hear anything over the living-room-noise) before busting in, full with (made up) Karate moves and all, fearing for her parent's safety.

Looking in, she found her father sitting on the couch, nodding his head to and off-beat. A little Muggle stereo was screaming about being decapitated.

When her father finally noticed she was there, he smiled brightly (not exactly fitting the tone of the song, which was saying: _your head, you will lose it! severed when executed!_) and pressed the 'pause' button.

"Why, Hullo, Ginevra! To what do I owe the pleasure?"

She smiled "Harry's not home, and I'd rather come here than burn another pot of Ramen or spend money on the Cantonese place down the street. Is Mum home?"

"I'm afraid you're out of luck, honey, she's at Bill and Fleur's, babysitting Victiore and little Sebastian for the weekend. And you know I'm just as terrible as you, if not worse, at cooking."

She was about to protest, before nodding "Thanks anyway, Dad. I'll probably Floo home soon, then. But, first: what was that...erm...interesting...music you were listening to before? And where on earth did you get that stereo?"

He looked pleased with himself before replying "I bought the stereo myself. With Muggle money and everything! Then Ron lent me the, uh, ill-bums. It's by a band called Judas Priest. Aren't they great? I'm planning on finishing the whole thing tonight!"

Unable to tell the exited look on his face that the music was, frankly, frightening, she mumbled "Uh, yeah, Dad. I gotta go, okay? Love you."

She just barely heard "Love you, too, sweetie" before another round of owl-murdering-music came on, and she was spinning away, down the Floo.


	3. It'll All Come Out

Harry entered his comfortable row-house in Godric's Hollow to the smell of burning water. Now married to Ginny for three years, he had come to recognize the smell well.

"Ginny?" he called into the house uncertainly "Is everything okay?"

When his words met no response, he hurried into the kitchen. There was, in fact, boiling water on the stove, unattended and boiling over the edge, making pungent steam fill the kitchen. He moved forward to magic the stove off, still wondering where in the world his wife was, and why she had left the huge panfull of Ramen unattended.

Then he saw it. A stirring spoon dropped clumsily on the way to the loo. Walking in, he saw Ginny, sitting in the empty bath, fully clothed, hair mussed, and cheeks flushed.

"Ginny?" he asked cautiously.

She raised her unfocused eyes to his.

"Any particular reason you're sitting in the bath?"

"It's cooler in here. The air's too hot." She said, a worn-out, cracking tinge to her voice.

All he could say was "Ah." before he perched himself on the sink and continued guardedly "Is there... anything you'd like to tell me?"

She glanced up from her cuticles, now picked bloody "My father has taken a liking to Judas Priest. I'm the new Harpies captain. I'm pregnant."


	4. Not Ours to See

"_Que Sera, Sera_

_What will be will be_

_The future's not ours to see_

_Que Sera, Sera"_

_**Recap: **__"…I'm pregnant"_

"Oh." he said restrainedly.

"Is that all you have to say? I tell you I'm pregnant and you say" she gestured widely with her arms "'Oh'?"

A small smirk played across his face "Do you really want to know what I have to say?"

She nodded, a millionth wave of nausea crashing over her.

He raised his eyes to hers with almost a comical sense of dignity, and started jumping up and down like an exited teenage girl.

She hade enough grace left to laugh, even though he was being ear-splittingly loud in his hooting and hollering.

And, as suddenly and as alarmingly as he had started, he was silent.

"But…but…you're captain?"

"Was. I was. Yes, Gwen told me after the match. That doesn't matter now that, you know…"

He nodded sagely "What'll you do, though? Make a Reserve Captain and come back afterwards? I could stay home, you know. Flying is your life-"

"I couldn't do that, Harry. What would the Aurours be without you, Hm? I've decided to make Kerrilyn Whisp Captain." Harry groaned "Don't complain! I know better than anyone that she can be annoying, but she makes a great leader, and therefore a great Captain. Everyone knows that. The Prophet's offered me a Quidditch section HUNDREDS of times, Harry. I can do that from home. All of this will work out."

He smiled and quietly got into the tub opposite her.

"Wow, Gin. What great parents we'll make. One _Veritas Vivum _and we have to go berserkers to get everything in order."

Ginny laughed "Ha! Wanna see berserkers? Come with me to tell my mother."

They both gauged Mrs. Weasley's reaction for a moment before shuddering.

That would be a long evening.


	5. I'll Send an SOS

"_Walked out this morning, don't believe what I saw  
Hundred billion bottles washed up on the shore  
Seems I'm not alone in being alone  
Hundred billion castaways, looking for a home  
I'll send an S.O.S. to the world_

_I hope that someone gets my_

_Message in a bottle"_

A loud crash echoed from the kitchen of the new Potter house.

_A week living here,_ Harry thought as he got up from his desk, walking warily towards the loud noise, _and she's already broken something. Jaysus._

"Ginny?"

His casual tone did not match her expression, though. She was standing in the middle of the kitchen, watery eyes wide and hands in front of her gaping mouth. A worn gold Harpies T-shirt was stretched over her very pregnant stomach, and her grey sweatpants were stained with greenish-brown brine, along with the bottoms of the new silver appliances. A splatter of glass and bits of pickle lay in front of and on her feet.

"It broke." She said, her voice croaking "I didn't… It was just… I just wanted…"

"I know, it's alright," Harry mumbled "there's another one, just, uh, don't-"

"That's not the point _HAROLD_" he almost laughed at the fact that she was using a fake name, but something in the unbridled anger in her eyes told him to just shut his face "Everything here breaks, and I'm sick of it!"

Though he had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do about the fragility of their house, he nodded exuberantly.

He tried to suppress another laugh and she dissolved into another fit of tears, "You don't have to be so goddamn lively! I'm such a wreck and I don't know how to…d-do… anything! I'm not a mum! I've never been a mum!"

"Well, Gin, most people haven't been mums before they're mums-" another glare was sent his way "I'm not being funny, honestly…no, actually, I _am_ being funny. I don't know what to say, except maybe this: Do you think _your _mum knew everything before Bill was born?"

Her misty eyes abruptly cleared "Mum! She'll- Right!"

And with that, she was gone, leaving Harry sitting in the middle of his pickle-stuff covered kitchen, shaking his head


	6. When You Know

"_You tell lies when you think I can't see_

_You can't cry coz you're laughing at me_

_I'm down_

_How can you laugh when you know I'm down?_

_Man buys a ring, woman throws it away_

_The same old thing happen everyday_

_I'm really down_

_Down to the ground"_

"Just breathe deep, ma'am," the petite nurse soothed ineffectively "Breathe, breathe."

Ginny was fairly sure this woman had never given birth before "Breathing doesn't help. Are you sure I can't just, you know, sock you one?"

The Healer laughed "It's just a small procedure, Mrs. Potter. Calm down"

Calm down? Ha. Ha-ha. Everyone in the room (excepting him) was as far from calm as it was possible to be. Even the nurse looked a little green (though this might have been a result of Ginny asking to punch her)

"Now, Mrs. Potter," The Healer said, straining to be heard through the haze she was in "We're going to give you a potion. You won't be completely out, but you won't remember anything…"

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Cool. Okay. Hit me up. Please." She was not sure how her mother had made it through this seven times.

The Healer calmly handed her a phial full of thick, grey sludge. It kind of figured that the pain potion for birth was about as bad as the event itself.

She threw it back, though, sliding almost immediately into darkness.

----

Ginny woke to the sight of Harry apparently asleep in a recliner in the corner. She smiled and started picking at the varnish on her fingernails to pass the time. Not much else to do, was there?

At that moment, though, the Healer slid into the room, a creepy smile on his face, like he had been watching her sleep.

"Morning, Mrs. Potter."

"Yes," she said slowly, as if she was talking to a very slow person. "That it is."

The Healer looked confused until Harry clarified, getting up from his seat "She's just being funny, Healer McCoy. What seems to be the problem?"

"No problem, I just wanted to let you know that you gave birth to a lovely baby boy. James Sirius is in the Nursery. When he's awake, we'll bring him in."

"That's brilliant, Healer McCoy, thanks."

The man looked rather perturbed, as this was the first thing Ginny had said to him that wasn't a joke or witticism "Yes. Well…"

It felt like there was supposed to be dome closure to this sentence, but the aging wizard just shook his head and walked out.


	7. Just Wait and See

"_I'll make you happy_

_Baby_

_Just wait and see_

_For every kiss you give me_

_I'll give you three_

_Oh_

_Since the day I saw you_

_I have been waiting for you_

_You know I'll adore you_

'_Till eternity"_

James really was a brilliant baby boy.

Harry had to leave before the skittery nurse brought him in (nothing big, just aiding the Obliviators on a job), so she was left alone in a room with him (a rather dangerous move, considering the doctor thought she was a complete nutter)

At first, when you see a baby, you don't really get why mothers coo over them. The first baby Ginny saw born was Teddy. For one, the process was grueling, and for what? A wailing, whining, pooping, noise-box? Secondly, when a baby is born it looks rather like a bald, squirmy alien (Teddy actually looked more like a petite loaf of Salami, but she hadn't told Remus or Tonks that. They were just too happy).

She had told Harry her opinion of babies once. He had just laughed and said something about unconditional love and motherhood. How _Harry _of all people knew this was a mystery.

She got it now, though. Holding her own baby for the first time was some thing akin to painting a very beautiful picture or scoring a match point, mixed with overly-hormonal worry and mind-boggling squishyness (really, though. How can anything be that soft? Do they not have bones?)

He already had a tuft of untidy dark hair, and several pointy white teeth. He had her light-brown eyes, however, and a sprinkling of Weasley freckles. He threw her a gummy smirk and grabbed her nose with a pudgy little fist.

----

Later, when James had fallen back asleep, Ginny had her quill out, poised over a piece of parchment, but no ideas as to what to write in that week's column. Instead, an unbidden owl to Harry was forming itself in her mind. On the spur of the moment, she wrote it out, hoping that her seventeen words meant as much as she wanted them to:

Harry-

You were right; he doesn't look like a bit of Salami. Much love,

Ginny and James


End file.
